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Tonight at Top of the Park/Ann Arbor Summer Festival, Wednesday, June 18: Cécile McLorin Salvant, Bob Skon and more

Top of the Park 2.jpg

Attendees at a previous Top of the Park dance to music at the outdoor event. Events for Top of the Park on Wednesday, June 18, 2014 include multiple music performances, wine tasting and kids activities.
(Photo by Myra Klarman)

Here’s the complete schedule for tonight’s Top of the Park, the free, outdoor component of the Ann Arbor Summer Festival. Ticketed and main stage events are listed as well, along with price information. Descriptions provided by A2SF. Top of the Park events take place in the area around East Washington Street at Ingalls Mall, except as noted. While the outdoor events are free, donations are welcome. Events are subject to weather cancellations.

Bill Edwards
5 p.m., Grove Stage
Making a return to The Grove, Bill Edwards is a master of songwriting as well as a seasoned and compelling performer who splits his time between Nashville and Ann Arbor. With outstanding instrumentation and a warm tenor voice, his take on contemporary country will leave you wanting more.

Wind Down Wednesday: Italian Wines
5 p.m., Beverage Garden
Ticket price: $15 tasting fee
Italy has overtaken France as the world’s largest wine producer. Tonight discover Italian wines made from organic grapes in a traditional, natural way. For a $15 tasting fee, attendees can sample multiple wines from the evening’s featured selection. Tastings include descriptive tasting notes and experts to educate on the featured selections. Participants enjoy drink specials on that evening’s presented tastings in The Grove until 9:00 p.m. 21+.
KidZone: Ann Arbor Art Center
5 p.m., KidZone Tent
Come down to the KidZone to decorate buttons and colorful pasta necklaces to take home. Pick from a variety of colorful pasta beads to make a unique piece of jewelry. Look for patterns and fun ways to use all of the colors! For those excited about drawing we will have a fun button making activity where you can turn your art into a custom button. All ages welcome!

Spontaneous Art
7 p.m., South Ingalls Mall
Hear talking flowers tell surrealist, Wonderland-like stories. Play hilarious games with alien robots. Ann Arbor’s urban intervention specialists Spontaneous Art create interactive performances that bring bystanders together for moments of communal laughter, social connectivity and flashes of creativity. To reach its full potential, Spontaneous Art’s performances both investigate and depend upon the inventiveness of strangers, so don’t be shy.

Cécile McLorin Salvant
8 p.m., Power Center
Ticket prices: $35, $30, $25, $20
With a deep, velvety voice, rhythmic poise, a sublime feel for the blues, Cécile McLorin Salvant is jazz’s brightest rising star and the darling of Detroit’s Mack Avenue Records. Born in Miami to French and Haitian parents, and fluent in English, Spanish, and French, she confidently delivers jazz interpretations in a gorgeous, accessible program of standards and originals. While she is still only in her mid-20’s, her new album, WomanChild, was nominated for the 2014 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album. Touring festivals the world over, “Salvant has it all” (New York Times).

Madcat Midnight Blues Journey
8:30 p.m., Rackham Stage
Madcat Midnight Blues Journey is a new venture and combination of four veterans of the local and national blues, folk, and jazz scenes. Conducted by harmonica wizard and festival favorite Peter “Madcat” Ruth, this eclectic quartet is fueled by the guitar and steel fireworks of Drew “Cap’n Midnight” Howard, and propelled by the mighty rhythm section of bassist Mark Schrock and drummer Michael Shimmin. Bringing improvisational exuberance to standard and obscure blues tunes, folk and jazz melodies, and original music, in two years they have become one of Michigan’s hottest blues/roots/Americana bands.

“North by Northwest”
10 p.m., Rackham Stage
Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint star in this classic Alfred Hitchcock thriller about a hapless New York advertising executive who is mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and is pursued across the country while he looks for a way to survive.